Senior Trump Aide Dismisses US Sanctions Against Russia

Conway described the sanctions as “unprecedented” and that they may have been aimed at restricting Trump’s policy toward Russia, saying that Obama was trying to “box-in” his successor by issuing the sanctions with just weeks before leaving his presidency.

The sanctions target Russia’s FSB and GRU intelligence agencies, four individual GRU officers, and three companies who allegedly provided support to the GRU, and two Russian individuals for allegedly using cyberattacks to cause misappropriation of funds and personal identifying information.

The US also has shut down two Russian compounds in New York and Maryland that they says are used “for intelligence-related purposes.”

Obama also announced that the State Department had ordered thw expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats, declaring them as “persona non grata”. The diplomats were given to leave the country within 72 hours along with their families.